Igniter

ABSTRACT

A FLUID BURNER PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR MOBILE HOMES AND THE LIKE AND COMPRISING A MIXER CASING, MEANS FOR SUPPLYING FUEL AND AIR TO THE CASING INCLUDING A DRUM WITHIN THE CASING, A GUIDEWAY NEAR THE OPEN, FORWARD END OF THE DRUM AND SLIDABLY AND REMOVABLY RECEIVING THE FORWARD END PORTION OF A FLINT-AND-STRIKER-WHEEL SPARKING DEVICE WHICH INCLUDES AN ELONGATED, RESILIENTLY FLEXIBLE SHAFT MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THE STRIKER WHEEL AND PROJECTING REARWARDLY THROUGH AN ACCESS OPENING IN THE SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSED REAR END OF THE CASING, THE REAR PORTION OF THE SHAFT MEANS BEING JOURNAL-SUPPORTED IN THE REAR WALL OF THE CASING WHEREBY SAID SHAFT MEANS MAY BE TURNED TO ACTUATE THE STRIKER WHEEL OF THE SPARKING DEVICE WITHOUT DISTRUBING THE SPARKING DEVICE, SAID ACCESS OPENING BEING GUARDED BY A SPRING-BIASED DOOR, THROUGH WHICH OPENING THE SPARKING DEVICE MAY BE BODILY WITHDRAWN FOR REPAIR, ADJUSTMENT OR REPLEMISHMENT OF THE FLINT-AND-STRIKER-WHEEL ASSEMBLY. THAT ASSEMBLY COMPRISES A TABLET FORMED FROM A METAL STRIP FOLDED UPON ITSELF, SLOTTED THROUGH THE FOLD TO ACCOMMODATE THE STRIKER WHEEL, AND DISTORTED TO DEFINE A SLOT-TRAVERSING TUNNEL IN WHICH THE SHAFT MEANS IS JOURNALLED AND TO DEFINE A SECOND TUNNEL ALIGNED WITH THE SLOT, OPENING INTO THE SLOT AND OPENING THROUGH THE REMOTE END OF THE TABLET, FOR THE ACCOMMODATION OF A FLING, A COILED SPRING AND A BACKER ELEMENT.

Jan. 5, 1971 P. D. cox 3,552,897

' IGNITER Filed April 29, 1969 INVENTOR PAUL D. cox

m4 M /w/XW TTORNEY United States Patent US. Cl. 431-273 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fluid fuel burner particularly adapted for mobile homes and the like and comprising a mixer casing, means for supplying fuel and air to the casing including a drum within the casing, a guideway near the open, forward end of the drum and slidably and removably receiving the forward end portion of a fiint-and-striker-wheel sparking device which includes an elongated, resiliently flexible shaft means operatively connected to the striker wheel and projecting rearwardly through an access opening in the substantially closed rear end of the casing, the rear portion of the shaft means being journal-supported in the rear wall of the casing whereby said shaft means may be turned to actuate the striker wheel of the sparking device without disturbing the sparking device, said access opening being guarded by a spring-biased door, through which opening the sparking device may be bodily withdrawn for repair, adjustment or replenishment of theflint-and-striker-wheel assembly. That assembly comprises a tablet formed from a metal strip folded upon itself, slotted through the fold to accommodate the striker wheel, and distorted to define a slot-traversing tunnel in which the shaft means is journalled and to define a second tunnel aligned with the slot, opening into the slot and opening through the remote end of the tablet, for the accommodation of a flint, a coiled spring and a backer element.

The present invention relates to a fluid fuel burner assembly provided with novel igniter means and is particularly con'cerned with improvement of a burner assembly of the general character disclosed in my prior Pat. 3,152,- 635 issued Oct. 13, 1964 to me jointly with William A. Cox.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a burner of the character indicated but including a simple, inexpensive, readily manipulable and maintainable igniter means of such character as to render the assembly as a whole particularly adaptable for use in mobile homes and the like.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved igniter means for a burner. A further object of the invention is to provide, in such an assembly, novel and highly effective means for removably supporting the igniter unit in cooperative association with the burner.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

BRllEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a burner assembly embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the mixer casing and its associated parts, portions being broken away and other parts being shown in section to illustrate the "ice manner in which the igniter means of the present invention is associated therewith;

FIG. 3 is a further-enlarged end elevation, looking from the right-hand end of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a further-enlarged, partially-exploded, perspective view of the novel igniter means constituting a part of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As has been stated, the present invention is an improvement upon the apparatus disclosed in Pat. 3,152,635, and reference is hereby made thereto for a disclosure and description of the burner parts. To that end, I have used the same reference numerals which appear in said prior patent to designate, in the present drawings, a blower 21 driven by a motor 27 to supply air to a mixer casing 31 within which is mounted a drum 73 which is open at its forward end and substantially closed at its rear end. Penetrating the rear wall of the drum 73 is a tubular fuel conduit 38 whose forward end is substantially coplanar with the forward, open end of the drum 73 and is provided with the inner an outer jags 66 and 67, fluid fuel being supplied to the conduit 38 through a fuel supply conduit 29. Preferably, but not necessarily, a pilot light 82 is supported from the tube 38 adjacent the forward ends of the tube 38 and the drum 73. Suitable control mechanism for blower operation and fuel supply is suggested at 10. A mounting flange 11 is preferably provided for securing the burner assembly to the wall of a furnace with the rear end of the casing 31 outside the furnace and the forward end thereof inside.

According to the present invention, igniter means, manipulable from outside the furnace but arranged to deliver sparks at a suitable point for igniting the fueland-air mixture at the forward end of the casing 31, is provided. One preferred form of igniter means is indicated generally by the reference numeral 12 and will be described in detail hereinafter.

A guideway, substantially paralleling the length of the drum 73 is indicated generally by the reference numeral 13 and, in a preferred form, comprises a plate 14 suitably secured to a lower surface of the drum 73 and formed, at its opposite lateral edges, with depending, inturned sikirts 15 and 16 defining mutually-facing, parallel slideways, the guideway being open at its rear end 17. As shown, and preferably, a port l'8 opens through the plate (14 and through the drum wall at the forward end of the drum.

The rear wall of the casing 31 is formed with an access opening 19, guarded by a spring-biased door 20, and a branch opening 22 of smaller diameter intersects the opening 19 and is disposed substantially in alignment with the guideway 13.

Referring, now, particularly to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the igniter unit 12 includes a tablet indicated generally by the reference numeral 23 and comprising a single metal strip folded upon itself as at 24 substantially at the mid-point of its length, to define mating leaves 25 and 26 which may be secured in face-to-face engagement by soldering, spot welding or the like. The tablet is formed with a notch 28 opening through the fold 24 for a purpose to be described, and at least one of the leaves 25 and 26 is distorted to define a notch-traversing tunnel 30 and to define a second tunnel .32 aligned with the notch 28, opening at one end into said notch and opening, as well, through the remote end of the tablet 23. A striker wheel 33 is disposed in the notch 28, the thickness of the wheel being substantially the same as the width of the notch 28 so that said wheel is held against significant axial movement. A shaft 34, which is preferably a rod of flexibly-resilient metal, is journalled in the tunnel 30, coaxially penetrates the wheel 33 and is suitably axially fixed to said wheel so that said shaft, also, is held against axial movement relative to the tablet 23. Obviously, the shaft 34 can be so fixed to the wheel 33 in any one of several well-known ways such as swedging, shrinking, pinning, or the like.

The tunnel 32 is proportioned and designed to receive a conventional flint 35 Which may protrude through the inner end of said tunnel into cooperative engagement with the conventionally-roughened peripheral surface of said wheel 33. A coiled spring 36 will be received in the tunnel 32 behind the flint 35 with one end of said spring in engagement with the flint, and a backer element 37 will also be received within the tunnel 32 to bear upon the outer end of the spring 36. In a preferred form of the invention, the backer element may be a screw 37 with hardened threads capable of cutting their way into the tunnel 32, so that said screw shall be adjustable to vary the degree of compression of the spring 36.

The shaft 34 is of such length as to extend through the branch opening 22, when the tablet 23 is positioned in the guideway 13 to locate the striker wheel 33 in registry with the port 18. Near its rear end, the shaft means 34 is provided with a peripheral groove 39 proportioned and designed to receive at least a part of the boundary of the branch opening 22, whereby axial movement of the igniter unit 12 is at least inhibited. In the illustrated and preferred form of the invention, the groove 39 is formed in a knurled knob 40 which is suitably fixed to the rear end of the flexible rod 34, as by shrinking, swedging, pinning or any other suitable means. As will be apparent from inspection of FIG. 2, when the door 20 is closed, it will restrain the knob 40 against such upward movement as would disengage the boundary of the opening 22 from the groove 39.

In normal use, the tablet 32 is disposed in, and held stationary by, the guideway 13; and when ignition of the burner is desired, the fan motor is energized, fuel supply is established and the knob 40 is turned to turn the striker wheel 33 against the flint 35, thereby throwing sparks into the flowing stream of fuel-air mixture. If a pilot light 82 is used, the sparks will ignite only the pilot flame which, in turn, will ignite the main burner after a predetermined time interval in accordance with standard practice.

Eventually, of course, the flint 35 will be exhausted; or, for some other reason, adjustment or repair of the sparkgenerating device may be necessitated. Under such circumstances, it is only necessary to open the door 20, lift the knob 40 to disengage the groove 39 from the casing wall, and withdraw the shaft 34 which will carry with it the wheel 33 and therefore the tablet 23. The tablet 23 will slide freely through the guideway 13 to emerge through its open rear end 17; and the port 19 is of such size as to permit the tablet 23 to be Withdrawn therethrough when the door 20 is opened. After any desirable or necessary operation upon the tablet 23 and its associated parts has been performed, the igniter assembly can readily be returned to its normal position by entering the tablet through the port 19, bringing it into registry with the open rear end 17 of the guideway 13 by manipulation of the shaft means 34, and then pushing the tablet to its normal, operative position in the guideway 13. That position, of course, is defined by moving the groove 39 in the knob 40 into receiving registry with the boundary of the branch opening 22; and, when the door 20 is reclosed, the system will be in normally operative condition.

What is claimed is:

1. A fluid fuel burner assembly comprising a generally tubular mixer casing having an open forward end and a rear end, means for supplying air to said casing at a point near said rear end, a drum mounted in said casing having an open forward end spaced rearwardly from the forward end of said casing and a rear end spaced forwardly from the point of air supply to said casing, means for supplying fluid fuel to the interior of said drum, a pilot burner supported within said drum, a flint-and-striker-wheel sparking device for igniting said pilot burner, means for removably supporting said device on said drum, and an elongated shaft operatively connected to rotate the wheel of said device and extending rearwardly therefrom through said casing to a point beyond the rear end thereof.

2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said rear end of said casing is closed, said casing rear end having an opening formed therein providing a journal support for said shaft.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said supporting means comprises a guideway supported on and extending longitudinally of said drtun, said guideway having an open rear end, said sparking device including a member elongated in a direction transverse to the length of said guideway and slidably and removably received therein, said member having means thereon for rotatably supporting the forward end of said shaft and said striker wheel.

4. The assembly of claim 2 in which the rear end portion of said shaft is formed to provide a peripheral groove receiving a portion of the boundary of said opening to inhibit axial movement of said shaft means.

5. The assembly of claim 3 in which said member comprises a metal strip folded upon itself to define facing leaves, said member being formed with a notch opening through the fold, one of said leaves being formed to provide a tunnel traversing said notch and to provide a second tunnel aligned with and opening into said notch and through the end of said tablet remote from said notch, said striker wheel being disposed in said notch, said shaft having a portion journalled in said first-named tunnel and coaxially fixed to said striker wheel, a flint disposed in said second tunnel in contact with the periphery of said striker wheel, a coiled spring disposed in said second tunnel with one end in engagement with said flint, and backer means disposed in said second tunnel in engagement with the other end of said spring.

6. A flint-and-striker-wheel sparking device comprising a metal strip folded upon itself to define a tablet including facing leaves, said tablet being formed with a notch opening through the fold, at least one of said leaves being formed to provide a tunnel traversing said notch and to provide a second tunnel aligned with and opening into said notch and through the end of said tablet remote from said notch, a striker Wheel disposed in said notch, an elongated shaft means having a portion journalled in said first-named tunnel and coaxially fixed to said striker wheel, a flint disposed in said second tunnel in contact with the periphery of said striker Wheel, a coiled spring disposed in said second tunnel 'with one end in engagement with said flint, and backer means disposed in said second tunnel in engagement with the other end of said spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,224,406 12/ 1940 Mitton 43 l276 2,509,941 5/11950 Sabbia 431-276 2,781,653 2/ 1957 Thompson 431274 3,152,635 10/ 1964 Cox et al 431-349 FOREIGN PATENTS 56,374 7/ 1912 Austria 431-276 1,049,722 8/1953 France 431-276 ED RD J. MICHA L, P ima y am er 

